Modal Analysis of the Palazzo Lombardia Tower in Milano Topics on the Dynamics of Civil Structures, Volume 1

he 'Palazzo Lombardia' Tower, located at the heart of the city of Milan, Italy, has been recently completed. The new building, 161.30 m high, is currently the tallest in Italy, and one of the strongest features in the city skyline of the for many years to come. Given the strategic importance and the strong impact of the new building, it was decided to complete the final testing with a series of dynamic excitation tests, with special emphasis on the Tower. It was possible to extract its basic modal features and then to compare them to the numerical simulation predictions provided by the same finite element numerical analysis used for design. This offered the chance to start an important and interesting model updating procedure, taking benefit from both static and dynamic measurements, these latter having added significant details. The Mechanical Engineering Department of Politecnico di Milano was in charge of the design and execution of the tests. ECSD and CAD Data Consult took part in the design of the experiments and the model updating procedure. The tests provided an experimental verification of the modeling assumptions accuracy and of the robustness and reliability of the FE model in predicting the structure behavior as from design; on the other hand, the comparison between tests and predictions was meant as a tool for early detection of any possible construction inaccuracies or unexpected modifications with respect to the design statements. Finally, the experimental validation of the Tower FE model was meant as the initial part of an intended continuous monitoring activity. The present paper describes the main structural features of the 'Palazzo Lombardia Tower and those of the experimental tests. Also, the FE model is presented and the comparison between the numerically predicted and the experimentally derived modal properties is discussed